I love the car customization in the newer titles, just since I love any game that lets you customize/build your equipment. So many cars, and each has so many modifications. I was never one for the insane vinyl setups tho- I prefer being able to see the body of the cars, which is why I love teal tinted windows w/ pure white, or a two-tone silver paintjob.
I saw the latest NFS Most Wanted (I think that's the name) on a friend's computer. 20 minutes of narcolepsy inducing gameplay made me conclude this one isn't for me - found it boring beyond belief. Also, why the hell did they turn it from a game to a glorified Facebook app with the option of racing?
Best NFS game was Porsche Unleashed, hands down.
I think you're talking about Hot Pursuit (3!). I actually really like that one, I only have 4 problems:
:The driving engine is a bit slow in the corners, they feel really drawn out sometimes
:No quick race where you pick a track, some cars, and go; like in the original hot pursuit
:Lack of car tuning. I don't mean like Underground or Most Wanted. I love that, but that's not what I mean. I mean the sliders from the original. In the car select screen, you could open up a menu with 10 or so sliders for all your car settings. The tire compound, torque vs handling, brake balance, sway bars, etc. Being able to tune a car to your driving style would be nice.
:NO FREAKING MANUAL GEARBOX. I finally get a gamepad with shoulder buttons ideal for shifting, and there's no freaking manual option. Automatic only.
That said, the gameplay brings it all back. Lamborghinis with cop paintjobs chasing down Porsches and Paganis - That's just awesome. I missed that. Also, it's nice to see some decent locales. I'm sick of city streets, especially since Carbon and Undercover's cities made no sense. From a driving perspective, they're nice tracks, but in Undercover, apperently the city is made completely out of highways. And Carbon is a completely closed roadway system that only has nice corners, no 4-way intersections, etc. I liked Underground 1&2's cities, since those felt real.
That said, Carbon is my favorite second generation NFS game. Underground 2 would get it, but I hate the car selection. Carbon had exotics and muscle cars. Lots of people complained about how it's retarded, street racers wouldn't be able to afford a Lambo, why would you mess with a Lambo, etc. I loved that though; take your dream car and make it YOURS. And like I said, the tracks, from a racing point of view, were awesome. Carbon remains the only game that me and a friend could pick a car (for us it's the Mustang GT, the crappiness makes it so much more interesting), tune them and customize them our seperate ways, then race for hours. With nearly identical cars, it came down to driving style, and the over crappiness of the Mustang meant you had to be good, since if you screwed up the acceleration was balls. The feel of the cars and controls in Carbon was excellent too - it was forgiving enough that you won't instantly spin out like if you floored it in Underground, and you can get through corners with a minimum of braking, unlike, say Hot Pursuit (3!) where you have to slow down, and more often or not your car starts drifting when you don't want it to.
... who am I kidding, I don't really like Hot Pursuit. The driving engine, while not as bad as Hot Pursuit 2, is generally sluggish and unresponsive.
